Crochet-type edge for sock



May 12, 1970 W. H. BLIZZARD CROCHET-TYPE EDGE FOR SOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 8, 1968 INVENTOR.

WlLUAM H BuzzAEb ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,511,053 CROCHET-TYPE EDGE FOR SOCK William H. Blizzard, Mount Airy, N.C., assignor to Smart- Tops, Inc., Hickory, N .C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Jan. 8, 1968, Ser. No. 696,252 Int. Cl. D04b 9/46 US. Cl. 66-172 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An ornamental culf for use on infants socks which includes a cuff portion of plain rib knit fabric and a crochet-type edge portion which has spaced walewise extending relatively open fabric areas connected by walewise extending relatively dense fabric areas and simulating crochet fabric. The ornamental cuff is knit on a circular rib knitting machine and the crochet portion is knit by initially forming stitch loops on all dial and cylinder needles, and then casting off the stitch loops formed on spaced apart groups of cylinder needles before the next knitting cycle.

This invention relates generally to an ornamental cuff, and more particularly to an ornamental cuff for infants socks which includes a plain rib-knit portion and an integrally knit crochet-type edge portion.

It is known to form ornamental cuffs on circular rib knitting machines having sets of dial and cylinder needles and to form an integral lace-like edge by selectively forming tuck stitches, draw stitches, or a combination of these stitches on certain of the dial and cylinder needles. Either of these types of stitches tends to contract the fabric in a walsewise direction and relatively complex patterns must be set up for both the cylinder and dial needles. .These tuck or draw stitches must also be surrounded by plain stitches so that the lace-like openings are spaced apart in both the walewise and coursewise directions.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of this invention to provide an ornamental cuff including a plain rib-knit portion and an integral crochet-type edge portion comprising spaced walewise extending relatively open fabric areas connected by walewise extending relatively dense fabric areas.

It is another object of this invention to provide an ornamental cuff of the type described wherein the open fabric areas are relatively wide in comparison to the dense fabric areas and wherein both areas are knit throughout with plain stitches.

It is another object of this invention to provide ornamental cuffs of the type described which are knit on a circular rib knitting machine wherein the relatively open fabric areas of the crochet-type edge portion are formed by initially drawing stitch loops on all dial and cylinder needles and then casting off the stitch loops formed on groups of adjacent cylinder needles so that the remaining wales of stitch loops formed on the dial needles are spaced an abnormally wide distance apart, causing the crochet type edge portion to flare outwardly from the rib-knit portion of the cuff.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide a method of knitting an ornamental cuff of the type described wherein the relatively open fabric areas and the relatively dense fabric areas of the crochet-type edge portion are formed by providing groups of adjacent needles with short latches in the portions of the needle cylinder where the open fabric areas are to be formed, feeding yarn to and forming stitch loops on all dial and cylinder needles at a knitting point, and subsequently raising and lowering all the cylinder needles a suflicient distance to cause only the stitch loops on the needles with short latches to be cast off.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a sock provided with an ornamental cuff including a crochet-type lower edge portion produced in accordance with the method of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary elevation of a small area of the crochet-type edge within the dotted rectangle 2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary developed view of the cams of the needle cylinder at the main knitting station and illustrating the cam for raising and lowering the needles to cast off the stitches on selected cylinder needles;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the upper ends of a few of the cylinder needles and illustrating the preferred arrangement of needles with long and short latches and showing how the stitch loops move below the short latches but remain on the long latches; and

FIG. 5 is a greatly enlarged somewhat diagrammatic view of the stitch structure of the crochet-type edge portion and illustrating the manner in which the ornamental cuffs are knit in one continuous strip as string-work.

The ornamental cuff of the present invention is broadly indicated at C (FIG. 1) and is connected to the upper portion of a childs or infants conventional sock S. The cuff C includes a plain rib-knit portion broadly indicated at 10 and a crochet-type edge portion broadly indicated at 11. The cuff C is illustrated in a turned down position over the upper end portion of the sock S and the lower terminal edge of the rib-knit fabric extending down inside the sock is preferably connected to the upper edge of the sock, as by sewing, and the cuffs C are formed on a separate machine and in a continuous, string-work manner. However, it is to be understood that the ornamental cuffs C may be knit integral with the sock S and on the same machine.

Generally, the crochet-type edge portion 11 includes spaced walsewise extending relatively open fabric areas 12 (FIG. 2) connected by walewise extending relatively dense fabric areas 13. It will be noted that the open fabric areas 12 are much wider than the relatively dense fabric areas 13 to provide this portion of the crocheted edge with an appearance simulating crocheted fabric. Any suitable selvage or make-up 14 (FIG. 2) may be provided along the lower portion of the crochet-type edge portion 11 and it preferably has substantially the same fabric density throughout. The plain rib-knit portion 10 may be of any desired length and is preferably of a 1 x 1 rib construction with a suitable ornamental wrap design 15 (FIG. 1).

The ornamental cuff C is preferably knit on a circular knitting machine of the type known as a Fidelity multi design ribber which is adapted to form a true rib fabric and which includes a series of cylinder needles alternating with dial needles. This is a well-known type of machine and is shown in detail in the Larkin Pat. No. 1,841,249. This machine is of the stationary needle cylinder type and a cam block ring 20 rotates around the needle cylinder and supports the needle cams. Sections of cam ring 20 are illustrated in a developed view in FIG. 3 and support the cylinder needle cams at the regular knitting station which includes clearing cams 22, a guard cam 23, a leveling cam 24, and a regular stitch cam 25. The stitch cam 25 is supported for vertical movement by a stem 26 which may be raised and lowered by an adjustment screw 27 to vary the depth to which the cylinder needles are drawn and to thereby vary the size of stitch being knit.

For purposes to be presently described, the needles in the needle cylinder are arranged in a predetermined order with groups of adjacent needles with short latches SN being separated by needles with long latches L-N, as illustrated in FIG. 4. To knit the illustrated pattern in the crochet-type edge portion 11, groups of four adjacent short latch needles SN are separated by a single long latch needle L-N (FIG. 4). As is well known, dial needles, not shown, alternate with the cylinder needles and are supported in the conventional manner for radial movement between the cylinder needles to form a true rib fabric.

Directly opposite the regular stitch cam 25 on the cam ring 20, suitable cams are provided to form what will be referred to as a cast off station. The cams at this station include a fixed needle raising cam 30 and a guard cam 31. A clearing cam 32 is supported for vertical movement by the lower end of a stem 33. The clearing cam 32 is normally supported at the level shown by a support cam 34 which engages a support pin 35 fixed in the upper end of the stem 33. The clearing cam 32 may be lowered by moving the supporting cam 34 from beneath the pin 35 so that none of the cylinder needles will be raised thereby. An auxiliary stitch cam 36 is supported for vertical movement by a stem 37 which may be raised and lowered by an adjustment screw 38.

The method of knitting the ornamental cuff of the present invention will be described with particular reference to FIG. which schematically illustrates the formation of the stitch loops on both the dial and cylinder needles. In FIG. 5, one walewise repeat of the pattern is illustrated in wales W-l through W-13 while the knitting of a pull or separator course and the crocheted edge, including the make-up of selvage courses, and the beginning of the plain rib-knit portion is illustrated in courses C-1 through C-15. In FIG. 5 the dial needles form rewardly facing stitch loops in the odd numered wales while the cylinder needles form forwardly facing stitch loops in the even numbered wales. The ornamental cuff portions C are knit in string-work and are connected by pull or separator courses, such as that indicated at course C-1, which are formed by knitting on the dial needles only and forming rearwardly facing stitch loops in the odd numbered wales W-l through W-13.

Any suitable type of make-up or selvage may then be knit before the formation of the crocheted edge encompassed by courses C-8 through C13. A preferred type of selvage or make-up is illustrated in FIG. 4 by courses C-2 through C-7. In course C-2 the yarn is fed to all needles and knits only on the dial needles in the odd numbered wales. In course C-3, the yarn is fed to and knit on all cylinder needles and is tucked on the dial needles. In course C-4, the yarn is fed to and knit only on the cylinder needles in the even numbered Wales and is floated across the dial needles in the odd numbered Wales. In course C-5, the yarn is fed to and knit on both the dial and cylinder needles. In courses C-6 and 0-7, the yarn is tucked on the dial needles and knit on the cylinder needles.

Although the cylinder needles form stitch loops in wales W-4, W-6, W-S and W-10 of courses C-6 and C-7, these cylinder needle loops are shed from the needles during the formation of course C-8 and they do not run back because they are caught by the straightening of the stitches in wales W-4, W-6, W-8 and W-10 of course C-5. The crochet-type edge portion 11 begins with the knitting of course C-8 in which stitch loops are initially formed on all cylinder and dial needles at the regular stitch cam 25 (FIG. 3) since the clearing cam 22 raises the butts of all cylinder needles to the height of the dashdot line 40 (FIG. 3) and this is sufficiently high that the previous stitch loops are moved beneath the latches of both the needles L-N and SN. However, before knitting course C-9, the butts of all the cylinder needles are raised by the clearing cam 32 at the cast off station (FIG.

3) to the height of the dash-dot line 41 and this is sufficiently high that the stitch loops formed at the regular knitting station are moved beneath the latches of the short latch cylinder needles SN which initially knit the yarn in the wales W4, W6, W-8 and W-10. As these needles SN are lowered by the stitch cam 36 their stitch loops are cast off.

However, the dial needles do not cast off their stitch loops in the course C-8 and the stitch loops are maintained in the odd numbered wales. Also, the needles with long latches L-N (which form the stitches in wales W-2 and W-12) are not raised high enough by clearing cam 32 that the stitches thereon are moved below the lower end of the latches (FIG. 4) and the stitches on these needles are not cast off the needles when they are lowered by the stitch cam 36. This process is repeated throughout the desired number of courses to for the required length of the crocheted edge, in this case through course C-12. Thus, the yarns extending across wales W-4, W-6, W-8 and W-10 in courses C-S through C-12 actually contain the same length of yarn as the length of yarn in the stitch loops in the corresponding wales W-2 and W- 12, since these yarns have been initially formed into stitch loops and then cast off. The extra length of yarn between the dial needle stitches thus permits wide separation between the odd numbered wales to form areas of relatively open fabric, as illustrated at 12 in FIG. 2. The relatively open fabric areas are connected by areas of relatively dense fabric, illustrated at 13 in FIG. 2, and which are formed because the cylinder needles with long latches do not cast off their stitches. The areas of relatively open fabric are illustrated in wales W-4 through W-10 and the areas of relatively dense fabric are illustrated in wales W-l through W-3 and W-11 through W-13 of courses C8 through C-12 (FIG. 5).

After the desired length of crochet-type edge fabric has been produced, the clearing cam 32 (FIG. 3) is lowered by the usual action of the pattern disc, not shown, to move the cam 34 away from beneath the support pin 35. With the clearing cam 32 lowered, none of the cylinder needles are raised high enough that the stitch loops move beneath the latches so that the stitches are not cast off when the needles are lowered by the cam 36. Thus, as shown in course C-13 (FIG. 4), stitch loops are formed in wales W-1 and W-12 and the yarn remains in the books of the needles in Wales W-4, W-6, W-8 and W-10. During the knitting of the next course C-14, the yarn is tucked on all the dial needles (odd numbered Wales) and knit on all of the cylinder needles (even numbered wales) prior to knitting the plain rib portion 10 of the ornamental cufif C. Beginning with course C-15, the yarn is fed to and knit on all the cylinder and dial needles and the plain rib-knit portion 10 is formed of plain stitches in a 1 x 1 rib for any desired length. At the end of the rib-knit portion 10, a loose course is usually formed and then the pull courses or separator courses are knit on the dial needles only, as illustrated in course C-l, before beginning the knitting of the next culf C.

The ornamental cult of the present invention thus includes a crochet-type edge portion or relatively open fabric areas connected by walewise extending relatively dense fabric areas and this fabric is knit by a simple arrangement of needles with short latches alternating with one or more cylinder needles with long latches. The walewise width of the relatively open areas and the relatively dense fabric areas may be easily varied by varying the arrangement of the long latch and short latch cylinder needles and while it is preferred that the relatively open areas be relatively wider than the relatively dense areas, it is to be understood that this arrangement may be reversed. Also, the areas of open and dense fabric may be of the same or equal width, if desired.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and al though specific terms are employed, they are used in a 5 generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. An ornamental cufi for a sock comprising a crochettype portion, a selvage edge portion, and a plain rib portion, said crochet-type portion being integrally knit with said selvage edge and including a plurality of successive courses of rearwardly and forwardly facing stitch loops forming walewise extending relatively open fabric areas coursewise connected by walewise extending relatively dense fabric areas, said open fabric areas consisting of a plurality of adjacent rearwardly facing stitch loops connected in the coursewise direction by abnormally long lengths of yarn, said abnormally long lengths of yarn adjacent opposite sides of said open fabric areas con necting said rearwardly facing stitch loops with said dense fabric areas at opposite sides thereof, and said dense fabric areas consisting of forwardly facing stitch loops and adjacent rearwardly facing stitch loops, said relatively open fabric areas being substantially wider than said relatively dense fabric areas and said plain rib portion being integrally knit with said crochet-type portion and comprising a plurality of successive courses each consisting of alternating forwardly and rearwardly facing 6 stitch loops, the abnormally long lengths of yarn in the open fabric areas causing the crochet-type portion to flare outwardly from said plain rib portion.

2. An ornamental cuff according to claim 1 wherein each of said relatively dense fabric areas consists of single forwardly facing stitch loops and a single rearwardly facing stitch loop positioned adjacent opposite sides of said single forwardly facing stitch loop.

3. An ornamental cuff according to claim 2 wherein each of said relatively open fabric areas consists of three widely spaced rearwardly facing stitch loops.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,035,751 8/1912 Scott 66172 1,158,072 10/ 1915 Niermeyer. 1,572,084 2/1926 Regar 66173 2,084,914 6/ 1937 Lawson et al 66--200 XR 2,175,958 10/1939 Getaz et a1 66172 3,003,343 10/1961 Alfano 66-172 WM. CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 66-199 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION May 12, 1970 Patent No. 3 511 ,053 Dated Inventor g H. Blizzard It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1 line 69 following "formed," add --providing needles with long latches in the portions of the needle cylinder where the dense fabric areas are to be formed,-.

Column 2 line 42 "walsewise" should read --walewise-- Column 3, line 37 "rewardly" should read -rearwardly--.

Column 4 line 17 "for" should read --form--.

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